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FDA is ‘exploring ways to accelerate enforcement” of the U.S. vaping industry
The 120-day FDA probe into the possible long-term effects of a nationwide flavor ban on the American vaping industry is now complete. Now comes the time for the bureaucrats to sort through the hundreds of thousands of comments to form some sort of clear path forward. If the joint statement issued on August 2 by FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb the Director of the Center for Tobacco Products Mitch Zeller is any indication, vapers should get ready for some very significant changes in the coming months.
The Gottlieb-Zeller statement appears on the FDA blog and has the somewhat foreboding title, Advancing Tobacco Regulation to Protect Children and Families: Updates and New Initiatives from the FDA on the Anniversary of the Tobacco Control Act and FDA’s Comprehensive Plan for Nicotine. While the article begins with a rather positive tone, it quickly devolves into something more conspicuous.
While many vaping enthusiasts may already be aware of Scott Gottlieb as the head of the FDA, Mitch Zeller may have slipped their collective memories. In fact, for those new to vaping in the past two years, they many have never heard of him – ever. As a reminder, Gottlieb is the Trump-appointed FDA Commissioner. He is also a former financial investor in the e-cig company KURE, and the vaping industry had very high hopes that Gottlieb would eventually fight for the right to vape.
Who is Mitch Zeller of the FDA?
On the other hand, Mitch Zeller was appointed by Barack Obama. The fact that Zeller is still working for the FDA even after the election of Donald Trump and the appointment of Scott Gottlieb is truly noteworthy. Why? Because many credit Zeller for the creation, implementation, and management of the FDA deeming regulations that threaten vaping’s very existence to this day. Thanks to these deeming regulations, it is now illegal for vape shop employees to help customers fix or repair equipment, provide taste-tasting of e-liquids, and lots of other silly rules.
Now we have this joint statement co-authored by the allegedely pro-vaping Gottieb and the notoriously anti-vaping Zeller. To their credit, the article begins by pointing out that nicotine is not the real enemy. The smoking of combustible tobacco is. However, since the American public simply is unable or unwilling to make the distinction between the two, the FDA apparently feels pressure to step in and regulate.
“A principal reason people continue to smoke cigarettes — despite the dangers — is nicotine. Our plan recognizes that nicotine isn’t directly responsible for the morbidity and mortality from tobacco, but creates and sustains addiction to cigarettes. It’s the delivery mechanism for nicotine that’s more directly linked to the product’s dangers. That’s why our plan focuses on minimizing addiction to the most harmful products while encouraging innovation in those products that could provide adult smokers access to nicotine without the harmful consequences of combustion and cigarettes.”
Despite this encouraging preamble, the Gottlieb-Zeller article eventually devolves into a lengthy discussion involving everything from kid-appealing e-liquids to the confusion over the Premarket Tobacco Application (PMTA) process. The FDA officials attempt to pacify the American vaping industry by claiming that any and all regulatory decisions will be “science-based.” However, they also freely admit that their positions toward flavored vaping are also being directly influenced by “parents, educators, and health professionals” who are openly hostile towards teen juuling.
“We look at the marketplace for tobacco products today and see increasing concern from parents, educators, and health professionals about the alarming youth use of tobacco products like JUUL and other e-cigarettes. Our mission at the FDA is to protect the public’s health, and we want to assure the public we’re using all of our tools and authorities to quickly tackle this public health threat. We will not allow our efforts to give manufacturers time to file premarket applications with FDA — that are informed by the foundational rules and guidance that we’re now advancing — to become a back door for allowing products with high levels of nicotine to cause a new generation of kids to get addicted to nicotine and hooked on tobacco products.”
Even with “science-based” research showing that juuling is significantly less harmful than smoking, these ill-informed “parents, educators, and health professionals” are clearly the driving force behind the proposed flavor ban legislation. Gottlieb and Zeller also mention in their joint statement that the FDA is "exploring ways to accelerate enforcement" regarding regulatory violations.
Science be damned, the FDA seems poised to pounce on the American vaping industry. And with the ending of the previously mentioned FDA probe, the new official smackdown may be just around the corner.


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LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Fans of professional basketball may be seeing a familiar logo on the New York Knicks’ attire, the franchise announced Tuesday.
In a press release, Madison Square Garden Sports Corp., the ownership group of the New York Knicks, announced a partnership with Sphere Entertainment Co. that would make the newest addition to the Las Vegas skyline the “Official Jersey Patch Partner of the New York Knicks.”
“This pairing brings together two globally-recognized brands– a revolutionary new venue that is literally changing the way people experience live entertainment, and one of the most recognized franchises in professional sports – to create an innovative partnership at the intersection of sports and entertainment,” said David Hopkinson, President & COO, MSG Sports.
James Dolan, the executive chairman of Madison Square Garden Sports Corp., also serves as executive chairman and chief executive officer of Sphere Entertainment Co. Dolan is regarded by many as the mastermind behind the venue.
The Sphere logo will begin appearing on all Knicks game jerseys on the Oct. 25 game against the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden. According to the press release, the logo will appear on home and away jerseys, practice jerseys, warm-up shirts, and all Knicks jerseys sold at Madison Square Garden stores and on the official MSG website.
The Sphere exosphere, the largest LED screen in the world, lit for the first time on July 4 and has been a mainstay just off the Las Vegas strip ever since. The venue officially opened on Sept. 29 with the star-studded inaugural performance of U2’s Achtung Baby Live at Sphere show. Since then, director Darren Aronofsky’s film Postcard from Earth debuted on the venue’s 18K screen, with more films and events hinted for the near future.

domain: news


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Fallout 4 has sold through about a billion copies now (unconfirmed, totally made-up estimate), with just about everybody who plays games getting lost in the Wasteland. It’s a pretty damned amazing game, even if it is a bit of an unstructured experience. Thankfully, the game as a whole is greater than the sum of its often disparate parts.
It’s a damned popular game – but how much of that is down to marketing ad spend? While it’s impossible to really quantify that sort of thing, we can tell you that Bethesda spent a heck of a lot of money marketing it. According to ad analytics firm iSpot.tv, Bethesda spent $14 million just on TV ads for the game; and that’s only for domestic ads within the United States.
“Four separate ads ran 779 times across 21 networks, accounting for just under 15 percent of the gaming industry’s total spend for the month,” says Venture Beat.
Bethesda’s TV ad spend came only second to Activision, who “spent an estimated $18.6 million running 11 different ads 2,475 times in November. Over 90 percent of this push has gone toward promoting its new Call of Duty game, Black Ops III, with less focus on Guitar Hero Live and Destiny.”
EA’s come in third with nearly 10% of US TV video game ad spend with most of its budget pushing Star Wars Battlefront. It may not have been worth it – given reports that the game is underperforming at retail.
Ubisoft’s in at number four, pushing Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate and Just Dance 2016 and of course, that super sexy Rainbow Six Siege ad featuring Idris Elba.
It’s quite a change from the first half of the year. In April, we saw most TV ad spend being done by mobile players, like King, Rovio and Supercell, who spent far too much money last year punting Clash of Clans.
TV video game ad spend in a handy-dandy chart:
Here’s one of those ads:
Last Updated: December 8, 2015


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Here’s how Polygon NFTs performed in September
- Polygon’s NFT trade count and trade volume registered a spike on 24 September.
- MATIC’s exchange reserve was increasing while whales’ confidence dropped.
Over the last month, Polygon [MATIC] was only second to Ethereum [ETH] in the NFT ecosystem. However, upon closer inspection of the blockchain, it was revealed that Polygon’s NFT ecosystem actually witnessed a decline on multiple fronts, but things started to heat up in the last few days. Amidst this, MATIC continued to remain under bears’ influence.
Is your portfolio green? Check the MATIC Profit Calculator
A closer look at Polygon’s NFT ecosystem
Today In Polygon’s tweet highlighted how Ethereum and Polygon performed in their respective NFT ecosystems over the last 30 days.
As per the data, though the two blockchain were at the top of the NFT ecosystem, their sales volumes dropped over the last 30 days. Ethereum and Polygon witnessed a decline of similar magnitude as their sales volume went down by over 41% last month, which looked concerning to the overall NF Tecosystem’s health.
Polygon is the #2 blockchain in NFT sales volume over the last 30 days, 7 days and 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/sNO6vMulUe
— Today In Polygon (@TodayInPolygon) September 25, 2023
Not only did Polygon’s sales volume drop, but declines were noted on quite a few other fonts as well. For instance, as per CRYPTOSLAM, the blockchain’s total number of NFT transactions and number of buyers dropped by more than 50% and 7%, respectively, last month.
Additionally, its NFT volume by marketplaces’ chart also lost momentum as it dropped.
At press time, OpenSea had the highest market share of over 85%, while Rariable sat in the second spot as its volume accounted for 6.8% of total Polygon NFT volume.
While volume dropped, DappRadar’s data revealed that y00ts remained the top Polygon NFT collection over the last month, followed by Mythical Beings, Cryptokhat, and OKX NFT Collection.
Interestingly, though most metrics declined over the last few weeks, things started to heat up in the recent past. Santiment’s chart pointed out that both the blockchain’s NFT trade counts and trade volume in USD registered a spike on 24 September 2023, signifying growth.
How is MATIC faring?
Polygon’s native token continued to remain under bears’ influence for multiple weeks now as its charts were red. According to CoinMarketCap, MATIC was down by more than 1% in the last seven days.
At the time of writing, it was trading at $0.5147 with a market capitalization of over $4.7 billion.
Read Polygon’s [MATIC] Price Prediction 2023-24
Another bearish signal was the token’s MVRV ratio, which dropped last week. Additionally, whales’ confidence in MATIC also dwindled, which was evident from the slight decline in its supply held by top addresses.


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Evergreen shareholders OK stock split
- Kyle Alspach
Stockholders of Evergreen Solar Inc. authorized a 1-for-6 reverse stock split Tuesday, a move the company may take to boost its share price and remain listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
The Marlborough, Mass.-based company held its annual meeting Tuesday and received “excellent support” for the measure, said Michael McCarthy, director of investor relations at Evergreen.
The company received a deficiency letter from Nasdaq on July 1, based on the sub-$1 closing price of the company’s stock for the previous 30 days.
Evergreen hopes to raise its share price above $1 without resorting to the reverse stock split, which would aim to raise the share price and reduce the share number by a factor of six, McCarthy said.
“The management team may not need to utilize it, but does now have it available,” he told the Business Journal on Tuesday.
The company (Nasdaq:ESLR) has until Dec. 28 to regain compliance with Nasdaq’s minimum bid price rules. The price must close at $1 per share for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days to gain compliance.
For the stock price to recover long term, Evergreen - a maker of solar panels, wafers and cells - must “show some results that would please investors,” said Christine Hersey, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles.
Key to the company’s future is the planned move of its panel-assembly operation to a new factory in Wuhan, China, from its current facility in Devens, Mass., according to the company and analysts. Evergreen has said it would shift the operation by the end of the first quarter of 2011.
Most of Evergreen’s competitors are already seeing lower costs through producing solar modules in Asia, putting pressure on the company to do the same, analysts said.
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Titan India’s Leading Watch Brand is all set to cash in on the growing purchasing power of the Middle Class Indians in smaller cities and towns. Currently, Titan has 50 small format stores. The company plans to add 50 more within a year. Titan VP, Mr. Chawla said – Middle India is big growth belt and an important part of our strategy as our growth lies there.
The company has undertaken an exercise to revamp the World of Titan to target the upscale and contemporary. Singapore based retail store designers Kingsmen Co has been roped in to carry on the exercise. They plan to revamp 50 of its existing stores. Titan’s Flagship store in Pune now has a new brand identity Titan A Company Store.
Other Watch Store Chain of Titan are – Titan One, Fastrack, Titan International, World of Titan and Titan Flagship.
In a separate event, the company also launched Edge 2012 thin and light titanium watch collection with eight styles in the price range of Rs 12,000 to Rs 18,000.


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SEOUL: South Korean household electronic products manufacturer Woongjin Coway Co Ltd plans to invest about 70% of its market development fund for this year in its Malaysia branch, as it offers the best outlook among the company’s overseas branches, its chief executive Hong Joon Kee said.
However, he would not reveal the value of the fund. Besides Malaysia, the group has operations in China, Japan, Thailand and the United States.
Speaking to Malaysian journalists here recently, Hong said the fund was on top of the RM30 million investment in Coway Malaysia that it announced earlier. The company’s Malaysian venture began in 2006. Last year, it invested RM15 million in the venture.
Hong said Coway Malaysia would emulate the group’s success in its home country by employing Woongjin’s investment and marketing strategy.
“In the next two years, we hope to put in more investment, training and advertisements in Malaysia. We would arrange any kind of support including new product launches and more marketing efforts for Coway Malaysia,” he said.
James Park, managing director of Coway Malaysia, said the company planned to spend some RM6 million this year on its advertising and promotion activities and strive to become a benchmark for other overseas branches.
He added that the group’s Malaysian outfit had the most advanced operation system and fastest growth rate despite its relatively low potential due to the country’s small population, compared to its branches in China and the US.
“Besides, the Malaysian operations have the highest monthly sales among overseas branches. We hit 2,000 units of sales every month while the United States hits 1,200-1,300 units; 700 to 800 units for Thailand; 700 units for Japan and 1,000 units for China,” he said.
Currently, Coway Malaysia offers 13 products, comprising water purifiers, air purifiers and bidet systems. It aims to achieve sales of RM70 million this year, from RM40 million last year, by expanding its business to Kota Kinabalu and launching more products.
Thus far, its operations cover Kuala Lumpur, Klang, Petaling Jaya, Seremban, Kuantan, Penang, Malacca and Johor.
More branches would be opened in East Malaysia if the response to its Kota Kinabalu branch was positive, Park said.
He also said more wellness products including a water softener and a new air purifier model would be launched this year.
Woongjin posted a revenue of US$1.4 billion (RM4.75 billion) in its fiscal 2009. It has a market share of more than 60% of the South Korean households.
The group invests 5% to 6% of its revenue annually on research and development (R&D). Its R&D centre at Seoul National University develops about 40 products each year.
It has three factories in South Korea — in Yugu, Incheon and Bucheon. The main factory in Yugu was built in 1994 with an investment of US$33 million.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, March 1, 2010.


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Not quite light: New Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite leak paints an interesting picture
Over the past few weeks, rumors of the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite have ramped up. The device has made its way through a number of certification websites and benchmarks, giving us a pretty clear idea of what to expect from it.
According to the newest report, the S10 Lite will feature a massive 4,370 mAh battery. That supposedly translates into a 4500 mAh typical rating. This information comes after the device was certified by Brazilian agency Anatel.
It's interesting that the S10 Lite will feature such a huge battery. The S10+ sports a 4100 mAh battery, and the Note 10+ makes do with a 4300 mAh unit. This would make the S10 Lite the Samsung premium device with the biggest battery.
Going by what we've seen so far, the S10 Lite will feature a Snapdragon 855, 8GB of RAM, a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display, and 45 W fast-charging. On the camera side of things, it's said to feature a 48 MP + 12 MP + 5 MP triple rear camera setup, and a 32 MP selfie camera.
So far, that doesn't seem like a "Lite" device at all. The hardware on show, going by those specifications, would put it alongside the Galaxy S10+. There's a chance the S10 Lite isn't actually a Lite device. We're more inclined to believe it's just a different Galaxy S phone.


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APEC Addresses Importance of E-CommerceBy Sofía Hanna | Wed, 11/25/2020 - 17:07
In the latest Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the 21 representatives discussed the importance of working together toward global economic recovery. The plan discussed involves consolidating the digital economy and e-commerce.
Around the world, there has been an exponential increase in the use of online markets and e-commerce. Customers are getting used to buying in this new way and many companies have been going through or are starting to go through the digital transformation, making this channel an important factor for economic recovery, as mentioned in a previous MBN article. During the APEC forum, representatives emphasized how investing in free, non-discriminatory, fair, transparent, predictable and norm-based trade could allow growth, productivity and innovation, reports El Universal.
Luz María de la Mora Sánchez, Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, attended the forum. She restated Mexico’s commitment to a rule-based multilateral trading system and highlighted APEC’s importance in achieving Mexico’s trade policy goals of inclusion, innovation and diversification, according to El Universal. US President Donald Trump also joined the event, even though he had not participated in any of the previous ones.
Part of the forum’s message was to not repeat the mistakes made throughout history by taking refuge in protectionism. “As a grouping whose economies constitute about 60 percent of the global economy, APEC assumes a central role in spearheading post-pandemic economic recovery,” Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said during the event, according to an APEC press release.
Without an end to COVID-19 in sight, companies are still trying to develop their e-commerce tools further. Having forums discussing e-commerce’s importance and supporting companies that are going through this digital change could ease this transition. As an example of the role e-commerce plays in the current reality, MBN recently reported on the results from El Buen Fin 2020, when the use of the official app increased from 50,251 users in 2019 to 77,442 this year, while digital spending was between US$49.67 and US$496.70, according to Ricardo Sheffield, head of PROFECO.


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EA lifted the embargo on reviews of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and, apparently, the game currently has serious optimization issues on PC.
GameStar has shared a gameplay video of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor review. The test system will be based on an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X processor with 32 GB of RAM and a 24 GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 video card. Despite this, even in 1440p mode, the platform was unable to support 50 fps. The video clearly shows that the video card is only used at 35-60%.
During testing, an overlay with MSI Afterburner monitoring metrics was enabled. So it is safe to say that the CPU is not the limiter in this case. But, judging by the video series, it is frankly surprising that the game reserves up to 18 GB of video card memory. And that’s in 1440p mode.
Complaints about the optimization of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor are not isolated. PCMRace also report that the game has huge VRAM requirements. Due to very low performance, they were unable to get a 4K gaming experience, even though the system was equipped with a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12GB graphics card.
Cal’s newest journey in a galaxy far, far away has begun and we’re excited for you to experience it!
Our first patch will arrive on launch day across all platforms. In the weeks ahead, we’ll deploy patches that will:
– Fix bugs
– Improve performance
– Add more accessibility… pic.twitter.com/pUtyoGopP5
— EA Star Wars (@EAStarWars) April 26, 2023
Tomorrow (28.04) Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is officially launched. EA already promises to prepare a patch directly at the time of launch, as well as actively work on further optimization of the game.


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Today in Tech: Intel cooking up Internet TV service?March 13, 2012: 11:26 AM ET
Fortune's curated selection of tech stories from the last 24 hours. Sign up to get the round-up delivered to you each and every day.
* Yahoo (YHOO) slapped Facebook with a 19-page lawsuit over 10 patents covering a wide area, from advertising to messaging. Among the allegations: Facebook essentially ripped off its social networking technology, including the now-popular News Feed. (AllThingsD)
* The biggest story to come out of South by Southwest so far? A project called "Homeless Hotspots," which turned several homeless Austin-ites into mobile wireless 4G hot spots near the convention center. (CNNMoney)
* CNN is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire popular tech blog Mashable for a rumored $200 million. (Reuters)
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2020 – A Banner Year for Butter
November 17, 2020
“A bit of butter makes the batter better.” That has been the theme for Americans who have stayed at home more than usual this year due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
Over the last several months there has been a large uptick in home baking and cooking, which has caused butter consumption to rise tremendously. According to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, butter production has risen 6% over the first nine months of the year and is on track to top two billion pounds for the first time since 1943.
While butter has been on a slow incline throughout the past four decades, it gained more momentum in the early 2000s and finally regained its spot above margarine consumption in 2005, a feat not accomplished since 1957. Now, with more consumers cooking and baking their own goods at home in 2020, butter is booming once again.
One dairy cooperative taking advantage of this boom is Land O’Lakes. According to a company statement, Land O’Lakes net earnings rose during the third quarter of 2020, largely due to a surge in retail butter sales. Additionally, CEO Beth Ford says she expects butter sales to increase more than 20% in 2020 thanks to rising retail demand that has helped to make up for lost restaurant business.
These retail sales have more than offset the decline in restaurant sales for Land O’Lakes, which usually account for 15% to 20% of the company’s business, according to Bloomberg.
Ford said during an interview with Bloomberg that the boom in retail demand prevented Land O’Lakes from storing butter this summer that was produced during peak milk production for the holiday baking season. However, butter sales soared during these hotter months, which is typically the slowest baking season.
Some 372 million pounds of butter were in cold storage at the end of August and inventory levels will depend on the demand for the ingredient during the “less-than-typical holiday season,” according to Rabobank.
“Often times, even for the retail business, what you do is you make a lot of butter because it’s peak milk production time, and you store it for the key season, during the holidays,” Ford said in her interview with Bloomberg. “But the buying was so strong that we didn’t do that, because we were selling right off the line.”
Another factor pushing butter sales higher is its clean label. With a minimal list of ingredients compared to margarine and other butter substitutes, butter is moving up in the ranking in the eyes of consumers.
“[Butter] has benefited from clean-label trends as well as fad diets like keto, which require high fat intake. Butter also has gained ground as shoppers avoid processed alternatives like margarine,” according to an article in FoodDive.
While butter’s fate still remains uncertain this holiday season as it looks likely that there will be smaller than normal get-togethers, there’s no doubt that 2020 will still go down as a banner year for the dairy product.


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Technically Incorrect: In a series of tweets, Markus Persson says he's never felt more isolated.
New Jersey amusement park gives a peek at its Total Mayhem ride coming next year. But make sure you haven't just eaten before watching this video. The thing is crazy.
The tech titan will reportedly debut both a 12.9-inch iPad Pro and an iPad Mini 4 during its big product launch on Wednesday, rather than wait until later this year.
The device will launch in Europe early next year, and the company also showed off new speakers and talked up a streaming gaming service.
The electronics giant has sent out invitations to an event next month in San Francisco, where it's expected to show off the next iPhones and a new Apple TV box.
The SoundLink Around-Ear Wireless Headphone II mixes a strong blend of comfort and performance in attractively designed wireless headphone.
During a fishing trip, Rick Trippe came across a dangerous sea snake and stonefish fighting each other. He separated them with his bare hands and lived to tell all about it.
Technically Incorrect: Is it really about reflecting a new Google reality? If so, which one?
The company highlights new Windows 10 devices using its new processors -- including an updated Intel Compute Stick -- during a press conference at the IFA electronics show in Berlin.
Technically Incorrect: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak tweets his dislike of both Republicans and Democrats and his support for the self-described socialist.


text: There is more pressure than ever for brands to secure their place in preventing climate change, but PR companies are facing criticism for their role in perpetuating climate change. Many brands want to be labeled as a green company for marketing reasons, but also funding-related purposes, which puts pressure on PR companies to paint them in a light that may not be authentic to their actual impact. A peer-reviewed study in the Climate Change journal showed exactly how PR firms contribute to climate change while remaining largely invisible to the public eye. Whether they directly downplay the climate crisis or rebrand not-so-green companies as climate saviors, PR companies are facing fire for their contribution. Rebranding like ‘clean coal’ and ‘renewable natural gas’ could all be coming to a head with congressional hearings on greenwashing. PR companies like McKinsey and WPP are trying to change course quickly.


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The established content producers, the consumer electronics manufacturers, and the cable service providers worldwide are already scrambling to meet the surging consumer demand for a premium viewing experiences, which incorporates the Ultra HD 4K video.
Dec 29 2013, 11:54pm CST
CES 2014 plans to introduce emerging consumer technology trends through TechZones, conferences and exhibits
Dec 25 2013, 9:12am CST
Lowest around thanks to substantial coupon
Dec 9 2013, 11:12am CST
Source: Channel News Asia
SINGAPORE: Eutelsat Communications plans to start beaming ultra-high definition video to Asia with help from Singapore communications solution provider ST Teleport,The French satellite giant said on Friday (June 13) it will introduce its 4k TV channel -- which features documentary, cultural and sports content -- on the EUTELSAT 70B satellite that reaches across Southeast Asia and Australia. ...
Full article at: Channel News Asia
Jun 13 2014, 6:54am CDT
After coupon, expires tomorrow
Nov 19 2013, 11:49am CST
Source: Broadband TV News
Kansai TV, a commercial broadcaster in Osaka, Japan, has used Elemental video processing to encode 4K content in HEVC for terrestrial broadcast delivery over ISDB-T to an Ultra HD TV. Read th ...
Full article at: Broadband TV News
May 29 2014, 12:26pm CDT
Gigantic TV set will be incredibly expensive
Dec 17 2012, 1:07pm CST


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Slot manufacturer Konami Gaming has begun work on an expansion that will double the size of its Las Vegas headquarters.
The company will add a new 193,000-square-foot building adjacent to its current 123,000-square-foot headquarters, which is located on a 12.33-acre site south of McCarran International Airport. The project is slated to be complete in the summer of 2015.
Konami Gaming, which is a subsidiary of video game giant Konami of Japan, will increase staffing levels and consolidate all offices under one roof in the expansion, which will allow the slot-maker to close a satellite corporate office and warehouse facility in Las Vegas.
“What this project shows is the company’s commitment to the gaming industry and the opportunity we see for expansion and growth,” said Thomas Jingoli, senior vice president of Konami Gaming, in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “A facility of this size offers us the space we need for the three-to-five-year growth plan we have established for the company.”
The new facility is expected to receive the Silver certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). It will include a subterranean warehouse and assembly facility, subterranean parking, research and development facilities and an automated manufacturing floor.


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The UK's financial authority has published an official warning to users that Poloniex is not operating under regulation.
A franchisee of 16 different Domino’s Pizza locations in the Netherlands will be offering the choice of Bitcoin as payment for salaries above the minimum wage in the country. The pizza company will be using BTC Direct as a fiat-to-crypto onramp to handle the payments for any employees that wish to receive their salary in cryptocurrency Behind the news, Immensus co-owner Jonathan Gurevich noted that this is an option driven by innovation and the company opening up more options for young employees:
“We are a modern company, and we work with a lot of young employees. We hear them talking about Bitcoin and we want to offer the opportunity to own cryptocurrency.”
It is required by Dutch regulations that any employee is paid minimum wage in Euro, an amount determined by age and hours worked. Anything over and above the minimum wage can be paid out in Bitcoin, as and if the employees opt for it.
Pizza Day for Bitcoin
Not only does this announcement come as news of greater adoption of the market, but it also marks the anniversary of the first-ever documented transaction of Bitcoin payment. The event saw Bitcoin stand as payment for two Papa John’s pizzas – and it now is marked as “Bitcoin Pizza Day”. Back then, the pizzas cost 10,000 Bitcoin – an amount worth millions now. Now, Bitcoin as a medium of exchange is taken cautiously as crypto bulls tend to save or HODL their tokens.
To bring awareness to the market and make the case for use of crypto, BTC Direct’s Jerrymie Marcus noted that a salary in Bitcoin can bring benefits to employees as they earn in a comparable dollar-to-Bitcoin salary and invest in an asset that has historically seen exponential growth. He said:
“A monthly Bitcoin salary can be compared to dollar cost averaging into Bitcoin. So all the benefits are the same, you don’t have to time the market, and in the long run you cancel out short and mid term volatility. This actually benefits the employee, they save value automatically in an ever-increasing asset.”


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The Society for the Protection of Animals (SPA) is preparing to launch a brilliant action to denounce the fur industry, as part of the 32nd National Day Against Fur, Friday in Montreal.
In front of the Hudson’s Bay store on Sainte-Catherine Street West, nude vegan and anti-species activists will hold a rally with only a poster against fur.
Through the event with the generic slogan “I would rather be naked than wear fur”, the SPCA wants to send the message on the need to boycott the fur industry.
In many countries, breeding for the exploitation of fur has been banned, while in Canada the industry continues to thrive, according to the organization.
“Over 85% of Canadian fur clothing manufacturing is located in Montreal,” the SPCA said in a statement Wednesday.
SPCA activists last year simulated in front of the same store in downtown Montreal a scene in which two women, prisoners in a metal cage and wearing a coat resembling fur, were sprayed with fake blood .
According to the Fur Institute of Canada, more than 1.7 million mink are killed each year on breeding farms across the country for the exploitation of their fur.


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Mattel Loses Bratz Doll Appeals Court Ruling to MGA
Mattel Inc. must retry its claims to MGA Entertainment Inc.’s Bratz dolls after an appeals court overturned a judge’s finding that Mattel owned the ideas and work of a former employee who first thought of the dolls.
The ruling may make it more difficult for corporations to claim ownership of their employees’ ideas, particularly if they are conceived in a private context, said Carole Handler, an intellectual property lawyer with Lathrop and Gage LLP in Los Angeles who isn’t involved in the case.
“This has enormous importance for a host of legal cases that come up quite frequently,” Handler said in a phone interview. “It raises many issues.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco yesterday overturned a December 2008 order that gave Mattel the rights to most of MGA’s Bratz products. A jury in the case found that the designer who created the dolls was working at Mattel when he conceived of the idea and the name and made the initial drawings for the pouty and multiethnic girls.
“Even assuming that MGA took some ideas wrongfully, it added tremendous value by turning the ideas into products and, eventually, a popular and highly profitable brand,” the appellate panel said in an opinion written by Chief Judge Alex Kozinski. “It is not equitable to transfer this billion-dollar brand, the value of which is overwhelmingly the result of MGA’s legitimate efforts, because it may have started with two misappropriated names.”
The ruling is in line with Kozinski’s previous decisions in support of free discourse, including a 2002 ruling throwing out a trademark-infringement lawsuit filed by Mattel against a Danish band over a song poking fun at Mattel’s Barbie doll, Handler said.
“He’s not a big fan of idea ownership,” she said of Kozinski.
The appeals court said a significant part of the jury verdict and damages award likely needs to be vacated and that the entire case probably will need to be retried.
In particular, a jury would have to decide whether Mattel, under the employment agreement with its former employee, is entitled to his ideas and to his drawings if they weren’t part of his work for the toymaker, the three-member panel said.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson, who oversaw the case and has since returned to private practice, ruled before the trial that under the agreement, Mattel had the rights to the designer’s works.
“We look forward to a full trial on all Mattel’s claims against MGA,” El Segundo, California-based Mattel said yesterday in a statement. “We believe that such a trial will present a comprehensive and even more compelling case for Mattel than was possible with a divided trial.”
Isaac Larian, founder and chief executive officer of Van Nuys, California-based MGA, said in a statement that the company is deeply grateful to the court for confirming “that the American dream lives.” The company will launch a “stunning new line of Bratz products,” Larian said.
The jury in Riverside, California, found that the employee, Carter Bryant, came up with the Bratz idea and made most of the original sketches for it while he was still at Mattel. It awarded Mattel $100 million in damages, 5 percent of the $2 billion the toymaker sought.
Larson ruled that most of MGA’s Bratz doll line infringed Bryant’s initial drawings of the dolls that, under the jury’s finding and his pretrial ruling, belonged to Mattel. The appellate court said Larson was wrong to conclude that most of MGA’s Bratz dolls were substantially similar to Bryant’s sketches.
“This is a breathtaking opinion by a unanimous panel of the Ninth Circuit,” Thomas Nolan, a lawyer with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, who represented MGA during the trial, said in a statement. “The panel endorsed all of the arguments that MGA has been advancing throughout this protracted litigation.”
The 2008 trial was the first of two scheduled phases. Mattel and closely held MGA are preparing for the second, which includes Mattel’s racketeering claims against MGA. U.S. District Judge David Carter in Santa Ana, California, who took over the case form Larson, hasn’t set a trial date.
Mattel rose 39 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $21.05 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading yesterday. The shares have gained 5.4 percent this year.
The case is MGA Entertainment Inc. v. Mattel Inc., 09-55673, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (San Francisco. The district court case is Bryant v. Mattel, 04-09049, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Riverside).


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April 2, 2002
Ford to introduce sedan bigger than Taurus
New York, New York – At the New York auto show, Ford announced they will introduce a new, large sedan in 2004. Tentatively called the Five Hundred, the new sedan will be bigger than the Taurus and will offer taller seating positions.
“While everyone has been scrambling to invent the ‘next big thing,’ our team asked, ‘What about the car?’ said Chris Theodore, Ford’s vice president of North America Product Development. “We decided to put some of the features people love about minivans and SUVs into our all-new sedan.”
Theodore said the car’s interior roominess will be equal to or better than many larger cars – while retaining the proportions, maneuverability and fuel-economy of a mid-size car.
The Five Hundred will seat five adult passengers, and offer nearly three-and-one-half feet of legroom in the rear. The cockpit is designed to allow drivers of all shapes and sizes to find comfortable seating positions and for all vehicle controls and storage spaces to fall easily to hand.
The Five Hundred’s higher driving position is derived from one of the features minivan and SUV buyers regularly cite as a major selling point. The car’s “greenhouse” area has been carefully crafted to provide more headroom and the ability to raise the “H-point” – or hip-point – of the front seats. The H-point of the Five Hundred is two to four inches higher than the car’s mid- and full-sized sedan competition. The design also affords a more “upright” position of the front seats, delivering the “command-of-road” position coveted by SUV buyers.
The Five Hundred will use a new version of Ford’s 3.0 litre Duratec V6 and feature a six-speed automatic or a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT) developed and produced by ZF, the world’s largest independent specialist for driveline and chassis technology. Ford says the CVT will provide exceptionally smooth operation and help to deliver up to a 10 percent fuel economy improvement versus a traditional powertrain.
Production of the Five Hundred will begin at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant in 2004. The Five Hundred will share a platform with the new CrossTrainer, a crossover vehicle announced last month at the Chicago Auto Show. The CrossTrainer is designed for up to seven passengers and their cargo.


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Let’s start with the biggie ….
National media and marketing mag Ad Age launched a new competition this year called the “Client/Agency Marriage Contest,” asking for nominees for the “longest, most harmonious marketing relationships.”
Doe-Anderson and Maker’s Mark got honorable mention behind BBDO Proximity , the Minneapolis-based advertising firm and Hormel Foods, with an 83-year “marriage.”
Doe-Anderson and Maker’s Mark have been together since 1971, according to a Doe news release.
The Louisville-based advertising and marketing firm also got an award from Graphis, the Manhattan-based international visual communications journal.
From the release:
Graphis’ 2013 Advertising Annual showcases the best in show from thousands of international advertising entries. The Maker’s Mark Ambassador Holiday Mailer from 2012 was awarded the Gold in the promotion category. Each year Doe-Anderson and Maker’s Mark create a notable gift for the devoted fans of the world’s top premium bourbon, and the results never disappoint. The 2012 mailer included a red and green knitted sweater that perfectly fits a 1-liter bottle of Maker’s Mark.
Finally, Maker’s Mark won a Shorty Award for social media work. The Shorty Awards are in their fifth year and recognize the best brands, agencies and professionals on social media, according to the release.
Doe-Anderson received the award for the “Best Use of a Promoted Tweet, Promoted Trend or Promoted Account” for its #CocktailParty2012 campaign.
The campaign turned Twitter into a cocktail party for 24 straight hours and netted Maker’s Mark more than 3,500 new Twitter followers.
The awards and hard work haven’t gone unnoticed by the fans of Maker’s Mark. Sales were up 44 percent in the first quarter of 2013, according to the release.
Maker’s Mark has experienced more than 20 consecutive years of double-digit growth.
“It is indeed an honor to be among such esteemed companies,” stated David Vawter, the Chief Creative Officer at Doe-Anderson, in the release.
“Sustaining a thriving relationship with a client takes trust, hard work, adaptability and a little bit of fun.
“Did I mention trust? It’s a vital part of the work we do with Maker’s Mark.”
About Doe-Anderson, Inc. Based in Louisville, Doe-Anderson’s clients include Maker’s Mark Bourbon, Hillerich & Bradsby, BDI, Independence Bank, Central Bank and Bellarmine University.


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The Heritage Group in Indianapolis is expanding on an announcement it made several weeks ago to launch a venture arm that would invest $50 million in growth companies annually. The family-run business announced recently that it is partnering with the worldwide entrepreneurial mentoring network Techstars to start a business accelerator. Applications for the first group of start-ups will open in early 2019 with a focus on companies innovating in the materials science, environmental services and specialty chemical fields. Learn more here.
"2021 TVC National Summit"
- University of Tennessee, Knoxville
- Jun 02 2021
TAEBC "Advanced Energy Virtual Business Roundtable" - Middle Tennessee
- Jun 09 2021
"Made Here Market"
- The Biz Foundry, 114 North Cedar Avenue, Cookeville
- Jun 12 2021
TAEBC "Statewide Energy Incentives Webinar"
- Aug 03 2021
"GOVCON 2021" - TN Governor's Conference on Economic and Community Development
- Aug 05 2021


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The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 will have a big brother the GTX 650 Ti
We recently spoke of what will be the video card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 , which previously was called GT640 D5, but now became part of a restructuring in line with the company’s products, which seeks to better sort the names of their models.
In this context is that now we learn that there will be a second model called Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti, improved version of the GTX 650 regular, but apparently there is only a similarity of names, and that inside this video card is an animal completely different.
Because the GTX 650 Ti will gk106 made 28nm GPU and CUDA cores showing 960, with 1GB or 2GB of GDDR5 memory and a memory interface 192-bit. For its part, the younger brother GTX 650 will be based on GK107, with 384 CUDA cores and a memory interface 128-bit.
It should be noted that since this information a preliminary, is subject to change. With regard to prices, as we said before , the GTX 650 could be placed below $200, while the GTX 650 Ti could cost $250, but depends on the price that Nvidia would put the GTX 660 , which is ready to go to market.
Link: Nvidia GTX 650 series Detailed (Fudzilla)Tags: GeForce GTX 650, GK 106, GK 107, gk106, gk107, GTX 650, GTX 650 Ti, Nvidia, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti, Ti GeForce GTX 650, vga


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Previously in this month, Android Pie update was released by Samsung for the Galaxy J7 Prime 2 and the Galaxy On7 Prime. Now this latest version of Android is going to be offered for the Gal... Read more
The latest patent filings made by the Taiwanese manufacturer tell us that the coming Asus devices may perhaps have either a punch-hole display or a pop-up camera. Previously in this week, As... Read more
Samsung Galaxy A8s has been presented by featuring an Infinity-O display previously in this month. The front-facing camera is positioned in the screen and in view of the fact that the phone... Read more
Samsung has been the very first company to present a smartphone featuring a camera below the display officially. The device is named as Galaxy A8s and it has just come out for sale at the Ch... Read more
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Jaguar have taken the wraps off its new flagship XJ luxury saloon which is to be built at the company’s Castle Bromwich plant in Birmingham.
The car, seen as a vital element of the besieged manufacturer’s long-term future, was unveiled in front of business figures and celebrities at a glitzy event at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea.
The unveiling was hosted by United States chat show host Jay Leno, a renowned car enthusiast.
The all-new car is expected to go on sale this year at prices starting at £52,500 and topping out at £88,000.
Hopes are riding high within the loss-making company that the new XJ will be as successful as the mid-range XF saloon which was launched in March 2008.
The XF, also built at Castle Bromwich, has been responsible for reversing years of falling sales for Jaguar – which with its sister company Land Rover was making a profit for its Indian parent group, Tata Motors, until recession struck in the second half of last year.
Tata said last month that JLR had incurred a loss of £281 million in the ten months to March 2009 and has warned that one of its three assembly plants – Castle Bromwich and Solihull in the West Midlands and Halewood on Merseyside – could close.
But last night Jaguar was in party mood as it showed off its new car.
“These are truly exciting times for us at Jaguar,” Jaguar Cars managing director Mike O’Driscoll said.
“The new XJ is truly beautiful, exhilarating to drive, and with its bold, enlightened approach to design, it meets the challenges of our fast-changing world.
“It re-imagines the ultimate sporting luxury car.”
Advance orders over the coming weeks will, Jaguar hopes, bear out JLR manufacturing director Paul Cope’s boast at a Solihull Chamber of Commerce lunch in January that the XJ would leave its rivals “with all the appeal of yesterday’s cold potatoes”.
Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, head of Warwick Manufacturing Group and an adviser to Tata, said the new car was an important new example of British automotive engineering. It is a brilliant car. It just shows what British technology can achieve,” he said.
The XJ, like the XF, can compete with the “best in the world” and is a “signal to the country as to how important the survival of product development and technology is”, Prof Bhattacharyya added.
Eric Wallbank, an automotive industry analyst at Ernst & Young in Birmingham, said the high margins inherent in a luxury car such as the XJ were important to Jaguar. “It won’t be the biggest seller but the contribution it will make to the profits of the business will be very significant.”
The aluminium-bodied XJ is being built in a long and short wheelbase both of which incorporate an innovative panoramic glass roof. Its V6 diesel and V8 petrol engines are rated as among the cleanest and most fuel-efficient in the world.


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December 2, 2013 - Industry News
UPDATED -- Total construction spending in the United States hit a four and half year high in October, according to U.S. Commerce Department report released on Monday.
Tags: Economy, Durable Goods, Leading Economic Indicators, Construction Spending, Manufacturing
November 6, 2013 - Industry News
Conditions for the American economy are improving and may continue doing so, according to a new report out from one private research group.
Tags: Economy, Leading Economic Indicators
We offer e-newsletters that deliver targeted news and information for the entire fleet industry.
The expert, Mark Betner from CITGO, will answer your questions
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Ryder Launches Fuel Receipt App for Rental Customers
Freedom Air Filters Pre-Filter for T660
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With an eye already on the countdown of the new graphics card from NVIDIA based on Pascal architecture, on the other hand, we have the filtration of the new Battlefield 5, which will be called Battlefield 1 that will arrive on October 10 of the current year and would ultimately based on the World War 1. In this leak, in addition to showing the release date and the name “Battlefield 1“, we can find a soldier of the first regiment of African – American infantry wielding a weapon while behind him there would be a zeppelin shot down by enemy fire.
A new battlefield game called Battlefield 1 will arrive on October 18; Based on World War 1
A new piece of Battlefield marketing material has leaked suggesting an 18th October release date.
Microsoft just uploaded this artwork to the Xbox One dashboard.


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Google is constantly giving Google Shopping ads more real estate on its SERP. And new retailers are joining the party — or upping their Shopping investments — every day.
With such rapid change, what busy e-commerce pro has time to assess the full scope of the Google Shopping’s rise? It’s much easier (and more fun) to simply dive in and start winning conversions.
We analyzed 19.1 billion user sessions on retailers’ e-commerce sites to produce the definitive account of the state of Google Shopping today: The 2017 Google Shopping Benchmarks Report.
Whether you’re already an expert at using Shopping ads to drive sales, just starting out, or not yet active in the channel, the report covers many Shopping stats and data, including:
- Google Shopping growth metrics charting the channel’s rise over the last two years — and how this has affected spending on text ads
- Mobile performance data, including the shifts in the share of Google Shopping revenue from ads on desktop, mobile devices, and tablets
- Benchmarks for critical channel KPIs across the most important retail verticals — so you can see how your campaigns stack up
- Holiday 2016 results to get a head start on prepping your strategy for Holiday 2017 — and beyond


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GLADSTONE, Mo. – Sept. 30, 2020 – The impacts of COVID-19 have shined a spotlight on sustainability in new ways, with consumer priorities shifting to the food supply chain and topics like food safety, worker safety and animal well-being. Sorting through complex issues to make the most sustainable decisions can be a challenge. However, a recent virtual event pairing online influencers, farmers and food experts demonstrates the power of transparent conversations to foster understanding of how sustainability decisions are made.
The BestFoodFacts.org Virtual Taste Tour, coordinated by The Center for Food Integrity (CFI), included three virtual discussions involving nine online influencers and 11 experts – farmers, registered dietitians, retailers, veterinarians and university scientists – who answered questions about the benefits and tradeoffs of sustainability decisions.
“Food producers are continually seeking ways to be more sustainable. Yet, a change that benefits one area of food production can have unintended consequences in another,” said CFI’s Amy te-Plate Church. “The influencers came away with a new appreciation for the relationships between sustainability attributes and the careful consideration that goes into each decision made by farmers and food producers.”
The food bloggers selected one of three topics:
- Sustainable food, covering the topics of food waste, fresh and processed foods, food ingredients, biotechnology and food affordability
- Sustainable egg farming, including animal health and welfare, hen housing and food affordability
- Sustainable crop farming, addressing crop practices, technology and precision agriculture, pesticide use, soil health and environmental stewardship
Experts provided several specific examples of how they weigh benefits and tradeoffs and the impacts of decisions around individual practices, products and processes. The conversations resulted in many pivotal takeaways for influencers.
“Speaking to the panel of experts, it was interesting to hear the different perspectives about what sustainability meant to them,” said Lisa Lin, of HealthyNibblesandBits.com. “Sustainable economies, leaving the earth better than what you started out with, implementing practices that keep the business going, the ability to grow food in a way that feeds everyone, protecting people and animals under our care, and meeting future and present food needs while leaving a minimal footprint.”
“After talking with Dr. MacDonald, my perceptions about processed foods have changed,” said influencer Rachael Yerkes with EazyPeazyMealz.com, referring to her discussion in the first virtual event with Dr. Ruth MacDonald, chair of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State University. “Processed foods play an important role in food sustainability. We waste a third of the food we produce, and if we can extend life, and make foods shelf stable, it can increase sustainability, and make food more affordable.”
The main takeaway for digital influencer Lisa Longley of WineandGlue.com regarding crop production was how farmers “are constantly striving to be on the cutting edge of technology and to have the most efficient ways of farming.”
One influencer expressed surprise that food companies have managers or entire departments devoted to sustainability efforts, and that broader food industry partnerships are underway.
With food and agriculture industries facing unprecedented pressure to navigate growing public expectations for a sustainable food supply, the stakes are high.
“A variety of organizations are harnessing the increased interest in sustainability to capture opportunity or promote a specific agenda by focusing on a single ingredient, process or practice without accounting for the potential impact on the entire food system,” said te-Plate Church. “That’s why these conversations about tradeoffs and benefits are so important and why decisions must be evaluated carefully.”
CFI recommends a three-prong approach to navigating sustainability decisions that are truly sustainable.
It begins with setting priorities based on an organization’s values and those of its stakeholders. Defining values provides a framework from which to make all decisions going forward. The second step is conducting a comprehensive assessment of the potential impacts – benefits and potential tradeoffs – of a recommended change on the organization, its supply chain and consumers.
“The first two steps lay a solid groundwork for the third, which includes effectively communicating your decisions to organizations that request change and to the public in a way that’s transparent and earns trust,” said te-Plate Church. “If you’ve done your research, you can confidently justify decisions that speak to overarching values like animal well-being, environmental stewardship, food safety or worker safety.”
The Best Food Facts Virtual Taste Tour demonstrates that engaging with consumers about sustainability decisions in farming and food can make a difference. In this particular instance, the nine influencers wrote blogs about their experiences, reaching a combined audience of over 10 million followers with nearly 800,000 views of the virtual tour videos. It speaks to the power of trusted, credible sources reaching the right audiences with the information they’re craving.
“It’s hard to know where to get your information from. It’s really nice to hear from people who are directly in the business,” said Cathy Trochelman of LemonTreeDwelling.com, “because that’s the perspective I believe I can trust.”
# # #
The Center for Food Integrity (CFI) is a not-for-profit organization that helps today’s food system earn consumer trust. CFI members and project partners, who represent the diversity of the food system, are committed to providing accurate information and working together to address important issues in food and agriculture. The Center does not lobby or advocate for individual companies or brands. For more information, visit www.foodintegrity.org.


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Microsoft explains 300's disappearance from Live, licensing for Video Store
Robin Burrowes, Xbox Live marketing manager for the UK, has explained the disappearance of 300 from the Xbox Live Video Store in the UK, as well as giving us an idea of where it's off to next.
"Indeed it has," he said when we asked if the movie had actually vanished from the service, just in case our eyesight was giving out. "Basically, we get new films for a three month period, typically five months after theatrical release. Thereafter it goes to Sky, then terrestrial."
The Video Store's latest announcement was that Paramount movies are being added in the UK, including Transformers, 1408 and Goodbye Bafana.


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The war in Ukraine did not stay out of Paris Fashion Week. Here’s how luxury brands responded. Subscribe to our YouTube …
Originally published at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71uh0XQEIjA
The post Designers Show Support for Ukraine at Paris Fashion Week first appeared on Reality Syndicate Viewers.
originally published at Fashion - Reality Syndicate Viewers


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- City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
- Dubai 04:53 06:06 12:12 15:35 18:12 19:26
Growth in demand for fragrances in the UAE continues unabated with total sales reaching Dh911 million over the next three years.
Research from Euromonitor International said the sales of high-end, signature products are growing at a CAGR of 5.4 per cent to reach Dh663.5 million by 2014. While sales of mass fragrances are expected to be worth Dhs247.9 million in the same period. This is a key indicator that the UAE market has a marked preference for high end perfumes and other luxury goods."The fragrance market in the UAE and the wider region remains an exciting one with tremendous potential for growth," said Ahmed Pauwels, Chief Executive Officer of Epoc Messe Frankfurt, who organise Beautyworld Middle East, the exhibition for beauty products, fragrances, haircare and wellness.
"The average spend on premium perfume is relatively higher than in other parts of the world as fragrances and perfumes are an important part of the local lifestyle and there is a higher disposable income."
While the local population is big consumers of premium perfumes, another big factor driving the luxury perfume market in the region is the thriving tourism industry. Tourists account for a significant segment of the perfume market, with duty free sales at the region's airports, mall retail outlets and other shopping locations further driving spending in this segment.
Oriental and local fragrances also have a significant presence in the region, as the markets of the GCC have traditionally been big consumers of Oud, Ittar and other native fragrances.
Regional perfume houses such as Ajmal and Swiss Arabian have been making their presence felt too, with a range of exotic and designer fragrances that have moved them into the mainstream market.
Beautyworld Middle East 2011 will be held at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre from May 24 to 26.
Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.


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Josh Edelson | AFP | Getty Images
A Pinterest employee speaks with attendees during a Pinterest media event at the company’s corporate headquarters office in San Francisco.
Pinterest is expected to price its initial public offering above the expected range, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Pinterest is expected to price its IPO on Wednesday.
The image-sharing social media company initially said in a regulatory filing that it planned to sell 75 million shares at price range of $15 to $17 a share, valuing the company at $9 billion.
The company reported $756 million in 2018 revenue in its IPO prospectus. Revenue grew 60% year over year, but the social media company still had a net loss of $63 million.
Pinterest will list under the symbol PINS on the New York Stock Exchange. The company will go public with a dual-class share structure to concentrate voting power with Class B shareholders, which include co-founder and CEO Benjamin Silbermann.
Read the full Wall Street Journal report here.
—CNBC’s Sara Salinas and Reuters contributed to this report.


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NASSAU, BAHAMAS — A newly launched local website and application is aiming to become the go-to platform for information on The Bahamas, with features that can also help promote local small businesses.
According to Jason Taylor, president of Everything-local.com, one of the key purposes of the offering is to provide need-to-know information with a simple click.
“If you’re trying to figure out what to do, the various restaurants where you can eat and places you can go; with this one app you can find everything that you’re looking for,” Taylor said.
“It started out as being something that could really assist visitors coming into the country. We found however that a lot of Bahamians oftentimes don’t know about a lot of different events going on in the country themselves and aren’t able to support other Bahamians because they simply don’t know; they don’t have the information. That’s something we really wanted to change.”
Taylor continued: “We pride ourselves on the fact that we have rolled everything you need into one place. Let’s say you’re a small business owner and you don’t have an online presence, we basically build your website and mobile app in 48 hours, set up your online storefront with all your products, services, event details, pricing, contacts, etc. and then turn it over to you so that the customer’s request and orders come straight to your phone. You nor your business need to be in Nassau. The platform is local yet global.”
The platform showcases Airbnb listings, live weather updates, events listing, items for sale, spaces for rent as well property and buildings for sale.
Taylor noted that the app not only provides up-to-date real-time information but the information and entertainment platform also offers businesses the opportunity to list on the website for free until July 1 after which packages will be offered.
“When we were having the platform developed we were intent on having something where you could review products and services and send messages. One of the main features is that you can send notifications and messages to everyone who downloads the app. If a child goes missing for instance, we have the ability to push that alert,” said Taylor.
According to Taylor, the app has seen a “healthy” number of downloads as well as persons posting to the site directly.
He said the company aims to help make doing business easier in the country and provide even greater exposure for many small and medium-sized businesses.


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January 17, 2018 - China Merchants Port Holdings Company Limited (CMPort) reached a milestone during 2017 as it handled over 100 million TEUs during the year.
For the year ended December 31, 2017, the port’s total throughput was at 102.9 million TEUs, up 7.5% from the previous year.
Mainland China contributed 77.1 million TEUs to the total volume, while Hong Kong and Taiwan handled 7.5 million TEUs. Overseas ports reached 18.3 million TEUs, with Colombo International Container Terminals Limited (CICT) in Sri Lanka and Lomé Container Terminal (LCT) in Togo throughput increasing by 18.5% and 67.5%, respectively.
“In times with the 25th listing anniversary of the company in Hong Kong, CMPort and its subsidiaries surpasses 100 million TEUs, setting a new record in history,” Bai Jingtao, Managing Director, said.
In 2017, the company became the shareholder of the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka and TCP Participações S.A. (TCP) in Brazil. Regarding port investment in Mainland China, CMPort has taken a majority stake in Shantou Port Group Corp during the year.
As of the end of 2017, the business of CMPort covered 31 ports in 16 countries and regions and over five continents, with more than 190 container berths and more than 220 bulk cargo berths.
Source: World Maritime News


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How Coronavirus Changes Digital Marketing
- October 17 , 2022
- 9 min read
Ask anyone about what they think is the worst year in history, and there’ll be a consensus on one particular year: 2020. An article by the New York Post dubbed it as ‘the year from hell’. The basketball world lost Kobe Bryant, the United States exploded in social unrest and a large swathe of Australia burned in the worst bushfire since 2002.
But among the worst that happened that year, nothing surpasses the COVID-19 pandemic.
We won’t go over how many people worldwide succumbed to the disease. But we can discuss how the world can never return to how it did things before the health crisis. Hybrid or remote work is the new normal for workplaces, people keep their distance and modern marketing is moving from brick-and-mortar to digital.
The COVID-19 virus changed nearly all aspects of modern life, including how brands promote themselves. If your post-pandemic campaign isn’t getting enough traction, it’s time to update your marketing knowledge. Fortunately, this blog post has your back.
Digital Is The New Battleground
While lockdowns were an immense help in flattening the curve, they also showed a weakness in the pre-pandemic business doctrine. Simply put, you can’t have customers if no one’s leaving their homes.
A report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) indicated that business closure rates were the highest in the first few months of the pandemic, ranging between 20% and 40% worldwide. These rates declined as the restrictions gradually eased but remained between 10% and 30%.
During these difficult times, the world saw e-commerce overtake traditional retail in market shares. According to another OECD report, retail trade by mail or internet rose by up to 40% among European Union member states. In the United Kingdom, e-commerce share jumped from 20% in the first quarter of 2020 to over 30% in the second quarter.
Google search trends over the period also reflect this shift. Look at this graph showing global interest for the keyword ‘online store’ over time:
Now here is another graph for the keyword ‘online delivery’:
The spikes in interest occurred around March 2020 when most countries began enforcing their lockdowns. Since it became clear to people that they wouldn’t be able to go out for some time, they began looking for other ways to purchase their wants and needs.
Even as restrictions eventually eased, businesses realised how vital their shift to digital has been to their survival. It doesn’t necessarily sound the end for the brick-and-mortar store, but a business lacking a digital sense won’t last long in the post-COVID-19 market.
The Target is Customer Experience, not Competitors
Customer experience (CX) took a beating throughout the COVID crisis. In a survey conducted on over 1,400 people by a major American broadcasting company, 75% said that the pandemic impaired businesses’ ability to deliver. Some of the problems most people cited include the following:
- Making too many follow-up calls to the business
- Not getting a single email after several follow-ups
- Waiting for weeks before customer service gets back to them
- Dealing with ill-prepared customer service representatives
- Never getting their issues or concerns resolved at all
In these cases, a business can see even its most loyal patrons leave for another. Recent research by McKinsey found that many consumers, especially the younger generation, won’t hesitate to try new things or lean toward other brands for convenience’s sake. Then again, wouldn’t you leave if this is all you get from customer service?
However, matching competitors is no longer the core tenet of post-COVID marketing doctrine — at least, not directly. It isn’t so much a matter of offering a cheaper or higher-quality product or service as better sales support. For this, improving CX is a must.
Suppose you think your product costs less. Before COVID, for every five customers you have, two probably won’t care. Now that the world just went through the worst health crisis since the Spanish flu, it’s safe to say that more people won’t want to go through these inconveniences again.
There are only so many reasons a business can use for failing to deliver, especially now that they have access to customer data. With that information, customers expect companies to provide a more personalised service to them. The experience also has to improve throughout the customer journey.
Social Media Is More Indispensable Than Ever
A year into the pandemic, a peculiar trend somehow exploded on TikTok. It wasn’t a brand-new meme or a dangerous fad. It was just a short video of someone making delicious oven-baked feta pasta.
This example is just one of many. Videos with the hashtag #fetapasta have a cumulative view count of over 600 million on TikTok alone. Interest in the keyword ‘feta pasta’ had gone up and down throughout 2021, peaking in early April and Christmas.
However, the biggest winners in this viral sensation were cheesemakers in what the New York Times called the ‘TikTok feta effect’. In the United States, the sharp uptake in demand for feta after the videos went viral caught cheesemakers and sellers off guard. Once they managed to expand production, it resulted in an estimated 117% increase in feta sales.
This wouldn’t be the last food-themed video to gain millions of views on the platform, though it says a lot about one thing. Social media use has exploded since COVID.
According to the latest global data from Statista, Facebook’s user base grew by 1.7 percentage points in 2020. Meanwhile, the top five countries seeing the highest TikTok user growth are all in Europe. Norway, in particular, registered an increase of almost 250%, slightly more than Italy and Russia’s rates combined.
It’s easy to see why people use social media more than ever. As lockdowns limited access to outdoor recreation, mobile devices became the main source of entertainment at home. This trend is consistent with the 30% rise in data consumption in 2020, according to a report by the World Economic Forum.
Experts have urged companies to adopt social media marketing strategies in anticipation of this surge in social media use. Between February and June 2020, companies increased social media marketing spend by 74%. The result was a 24% increase in their return on investment.
Marketing Agility Will Be Permanent
According to a paper published in the Journal of Marketing, marketing agility measures how an entity can rapidly iterate between making sense of the market and executing marketing decisions to adapt to the seeming changes in the market.
In other words, can your business move as quickly and smoothly as this dog?
Seamless transit was how COVID-19 spread far and wide so quickly. The virus managed to leave ground zero and enter multiple countries in as few as three weeks. It prompted lockdowns and other restrictions that have greatly disrupted business activity. Businesses were cut off from their suppliers, and promotional events were postponed, downscaled or cancelled outright.
Considering the changes explained so far, post-COVID digital marketing will be poised to reduce or minimise business disruption. As mentioned earlier, mobile devices were the primary source of entertainment during lockdowns. As such, people tuned in to their favourite content creators for leisure — and businesses took notice.
Influencer marketing saw a noticeable rise in value during the pandemic. According to data from the Influencer Marketing Hub, from increments of USD$1.3 billion to USD$1.9 billion between 2016 and 2019, its global market value jumped by USD$3.2 billion in 2020. Since then, the rate of increase hasn’t gone below USD$2 billion.
Brands saw how content creators could fit into their post-COVID marketing strategy. Paying them to promote their products or services ensures continuous exposure without needing gatherings or physical events. If the situation calls for it, they can change the campaign on the fly.
Keep in mind that marketing agility isn’t the same as agile marketing. However, the two go hand in hand in helping businesses become more adaptable.
How Products Are Made Matters More Now
Experts are debating whether the COVID-19 crisis is a ‘black swan event’ or an unexpected event with lasting implications. According to Nassim Taleb, who coined the term in his book ‘The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable’, any event must fulfil the following requirements to be considered one:
- It’s an outlier, lying beyond the realm of possibility.
- Its impact, long or short-term, is highly significant.
- It allows humans to understand it after learning about it.
Presenting both sides on the said topic is beyond the scope of this blog post. One thing we can say with confidence is that the pandemic’s effect of making people shop more ethically than before is a black swan event, as some experts say.
Studies performed during the pandemic noted an increase in people considering a product or service’s ethics or sustainability in their purchase. While awareness has been around for some time, the pandemic made people reconsider their life decisions. They can’t return to their old way of life, lest they risk getting grounded when another pandemic occurs.
Because of this, experts believe that businesses should refocus marketing efforts from offering quality products to practising quality values. People will be less inclined to buy something made with questionable sources or practices, regardless of price or quality. Sharing values customers believe in is one great way to ensure continued patronage.
You can already see these examples in real time. Your marketing campaign can take advantage of the fact that you source your materials locally, which helps communities grow and reduces your carbon footprint. The more environmentally conscious populace will like that.
We can summarise this post in one line: ‘Nothing will ever be the same again’.
As much as we don’t like to admit it, COVID has shown us that the way we did things, including running a business, had serious flaws. Now that the worst is over (for now, at least), companies must take this chance to make them more resistant to such disruptions. Planning for post-COVID marketing campaigns will have to take the disease into account.
Here at NO-BS Marketplace, we know your brand needs to survive and thrive in these changing times. Check out our site to understand how we can help with that.
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Here There and Everywhere
The New York Times launched a new HTML5 Web App for iPad this morning. They are calling the new app, which is only available to subscribers, “experimental.” The new mobile platform is part of the “NYT Everywhere” strategy.
“We are using this as a way to give exisiting subscribers a widow into our journalism,” said Alexandra Hardiman, director of mobile products at NYTimes.com.
While we were holding our breath for HBO’s dark and gritty adaptation of Angry Birds (starring James Gandolfini as Head Pig, Lauren Ambrose as Yellow Bird, and Paz de la Huerta as an egg), CBS was busy acquiring Zynga’s breakout app Draw Something for a new game show. You can even audition on the network’s website!
New Age/New Media guru Arianna Huffington’s love of sleep is well documented. There’s the “sleep your way to the top—literally” TED talk, the sleep challenge and the famous AOL nap rooms. That story that she hides her three BlackBerrys in the bathroom while she sleeps is inextricable from her personal mythology.
Seeking love on the run via gay hookup app Grindr or its sibling Blendr? Your private information is in danger. On Friday the Sydney Morning Herald reported there are major security flaws in both apps and they’ve already been exploited by at least one hacker.
Fox News was the first broadcasting network to rollout the breaking news ticker on 9/11, so it’s not exactly surprising that News Corporation is ahead of the game again. Following The Wall Street Journal’s launch of WSJ Social on Sept. 20, more news organizations will unveil similar ‘Facebook editions’ at Read More
The New Yorker launched an iPhone app today that enhances the magazine’s Goings On About Town (GOAT) listings with digital doodads like maps, GPS, links to buy tickets and contact venues, the option to filter by date, filter by location filters, and clip-and-save favorites, editor Ben Greenman announced today.
It also includes original text and audio from marquis New Yorker names like Alex Ross, Susan Orlean, Roz Chast, Peter Schjeldahl, Paul Goldberger, Calvin Trillin and Patricia Marx. The announcement suggests the New Yorker has found a way to offer a digital point of entry to the magazine without diluting the brand or sacrificing their subscription revenue.
Finding and drinking beer has never been much of a chore, but The Observer certainly welcomes and applauds any and all efforts to make the process easier. With that in mind, we point to What’s on Tap?, a mobile app that allows users to locate nearby craft beers, find beer-related events and more.
Graphic Read More
It’s long been established that, despite constituting a majority of the population, female humans are much more difficult to locate than their male counterparts. Even in today’s social media-addled urban environments, a person can go minutes or even hours without encountering a woman. Rarer still are masses of women congregated in one specific location, let Read More
Bre Pettis predicted that the internet would go down in 2011, and since his predication recently came true in Eygpt, Pettis thinks it’s time to start planning for a similar event stateside.
“How would you contact the ones you love if the cell/internet networks went down? How would you get the news out to the Read More
Print to Pixels
The relationship between Apple and major magazine publishers ended the year on a sour note. Sales of magazine apps on the iPad, initially promising, had fallen off at a dismal rate.
This morning the Wall Street Journal highlighted Google’s efforts to build a digital newstand which would carry high end magazine apps on Read More


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The EU Parliament has taken a definite stance on the planned supply chain law for the European Union. Companies that have a considerable impact on human rights and the environment, such as child labor, slavery, labor exploitation, environmental pollution and destruction and the loss of biological diversity are urged to recognize their negative effects and to prevent, end or mitigate them. The proposed regulations extend to partners in the value chain, with companies monitoring and evaluating suppliers, sales, distribution, transport, warehousing, waste management and more.
The rules should apply to companies based in the EU with over 250 employees and a global turnover of over 40 million euros, as well as parent companies with over 500 employees and a global turnover of over 150 million euros. Companies from third countries with a turnover of over 150 million euros would be included if at least 40 million of them are generated in the EU, and the regulations would apply regardless of the industry, including the IT sector and providers of financial services.
Large manufacturers of smartphones and other networked devices, including Apple and Samsung, have pledged improvements in their supply chains and higher standards, for example in tin mining in Africa and Southeast Asia. The MEPs are pushing for a strict European supply chain law with specifications for fair IT by 2021.
The proposed regulations would require companies to implement a transition plan to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. Management remuneration would be affected for groups with over 1000 employees, and companies would also need to get in touch with those affected by their actions as well as human rights and environmental activists while introducing a grievance mechanism. Non-compliance makes companies liable for damages and can be sanctioned by national supervisory authorities, with proposed fines of up to at least 5 percent of worldwide net sales.
Foreign companies would face exclusion from public procurement in the EU if they don’t comply with the rules. The majority for the position was slim, with 366 to 225 votes with 38 abstentions due to concerns from the centre-right group of the European People’s Party (EPP) after strong industry lobbying. Smaller companies could postpone the application of these regulations for another year while only the few cowboy companies that did not comply with the rules would be cut off from the market.


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Black, Hispanic Patients More Likely To Be Tested for Perinatal Cannabis Use
While it’s clear that Black and brown people have been disproportionately criminalized by drug policy, a new study sheds light on just how pervasive this impact still is.
March 13, 2023
Analysis: Legal Cannabis Associated with Less Alcohol-Related Pedestrian Fatalities
With the steady Western normalization of cannabis use over the years, it’s no secret that many consumers use the drug as a substitute for alcohol.
March 6, 2023
Growing Number of Canadian Weed Consumers Source Products Legally
A primary goal of legalizing cannabis is transitioning customers from the illegal to the legal market, and in Canada, it seems to be working.
February 28, 2023
Study: Current, Lifetime Cannabis Use Associated with Lower Blood Pressure
Among the myriad benefits cannabis can offer, it looks like the plant medicine may be linked to lower blood pressure levels.
February 21, 2023
Data Finds Hemp Hulls Contain Bioactive Compounds Supporting Gut Health
Brightseed revealed data regarding two compounds found in hemp hulls that may be able to help your belly.
February 13, 2023
Oklahoma Could Generate Nearly $500M if Recreational Pot is Legalized
In just about a month, Oklahoma voters will decide if medical cannabis legalization in the state should be expanded to recreational use for adults 21 and older via State Question 820.
February 6, 2023
DMT for Depression? Clinical Trial Finds Hallucinogen Significantly Reduces Symptoms
U.K.-based Small Pharma is conducting a study of DMT and its potential for treating major depressive disorder.
January 30, 2023
Study: Legal MJ Laws Create ‘Significant’ Dip in Pharmacy-Based Codeine Distribution
A recent study focuses on a specific opioid with high potential for misuse: codeine.
January 24, 2023
British Columbia Considers MJ Consumption Spaces, Citizens and Businesses Weigh In
It’s been a question since recreational cannabis legalization first reached the lips of legislators.
January 17, 2023
Analysis: Adult-Use Cannabis Leads to Economic Improvements, More Jobs
Researchers at San Diego State University and Bentley University examine the economic benefits of recreational cannabis legalization.
January 9, 2023


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From June to October, the beaches around Ras Al-Had in Oman attract an increasing number of tourists.
Come October and the month is abuzz with pink ribbons, pink candies, pink tees, pink social media pages and pink… well, you get the drift: It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Childhood obesity is epidemic and the days when children ran about and played outside and were as slim as whippets are long gone.
Taking good care of your feet is an important task while performing Haj, since your feet are at increased risk of injury, cuts and burns.
Kababish is where most desis, a collective term for people of the Indian subcontinent, in Jeddah frequent for daily and festive shopping.
SAN FRANCISCO: Apple on Tuesday is expected to pull back the curtain on a “mini” version of its iPad to battle Amazon and Google in the hot, crowded arena of
Mexico, second in obesity in the world after the United States, wants its children to cut down on the soft drinks and fatty foods that have made them the chubbiest kids
IN the lives of individuals as well as nations sometimes seemingly small, inconsequential incidents can set off profound, watershed changes.
TOKYO: Brain wave-controlled robot suits that allow wearers to don heavy radiation protection without feeling the weight were unveiled in Japan yesterday.
Chicken with brie, wild mushroom croquettes, cured-meat ravioli: Gourmet cooking has put this Basque town on the gastronomic map, drawing visitors from around the world.
© Copyright of Arab News 2015


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Mobile payments services will only start to take off once consumers are using them two to five times a day, Peter Hazlehurst, director of product management at Google, has told delegates at Mobile World congress 2013. At that point usage “moves into habit”, Mobile World Live reports.
- Six in ten Chinese consumers have experienced a mobile payments security threat
- Japanese NFC pioneer NTT Docomo to introduce QR code payments
- Shanghai Metro installs QR code readers at ticketing gates
- National Australia Bank integrates with Amazon Alexa
- Westpac adds support for Amazon Alexa


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Microsoft has updated its Xbox Live content schedule, and the goodies start off today with the latest Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning DLC, Teeth of Naros as well as Games on Demand titles Kinect Joy Ride, Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2012, NHL 12, and X-Blades.
If women wearing very little clothing and wielding swords is your thing, a demo for X-Blades is now available on Xbox Live.It’s been out since February, so we’ve no idea why the demo has just gone live.More details are through the link.Thanks, Major.
After the break. Back in February last year, SouthPeak said “the 3rd-person ‘hack-em-up’ genre needs a fresh perspective and X-Blades is poised to deliver it.” A lofty promise indeed.However, if these new screenshots are anything to go by, we might just start believing it.Game’s out next month in the US for PC, PS3 and 360.By […]
SouthPeak Games just announced X-Blades, “a dynamic third-person hack-and-slash action title for next-gen consoles and PC, due for release in late 2008.”X-Blades features an anime-style heroine and guns, blades and magic. We’ve never heard of anything like it ever before.Press release after the link.


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Mall anchor tenants may be cast adrift
Whether driven by the weak economy or online shopping, malls are changing
Retail mall owners may be scurrying around in the hunt for new anchor tenants as legacy businesses fall behind changing retail trends.
The 10- to 25-year leases that are usually given to anchor tenants when property developers establish a new mall form part of a model that is quickly becoming obsolete, and this may mean changing the face of the traditional anchor tenant.
Elaine Wilson, the divisional director for research at Broll Property Group, said although grocery and department stores were expected to remain anchor tenants, "certain tenants such as H&M will become more of a necessity for your larger centres".
Wilson said anchor tenants would always draw feet to a centre due to their offering and size.
"Although they are not necessarily the differentiation factor, they are generally a drawcard, while smaller tenants will always be important due to the different offerings they bring to a centre."
She maintained that a centre could not be developed without an anchor tenant.
Wilson said that in South African malls, anchor tenants in the grocery category could be replaced only by a similar tenant, for example Pick n Pay for Spar, or Checkers for Woolworths Food.
But as consumers become more globalised, department stores as anchor tenants are quickly becoming sidelined and industry analysts will tell you that the arrival of global retailers looking for premium space has been the main topic of discussion by landlords when leasing retail space.
Keillen Ndlovu, head of listed property funds at Stanlib, said that for big malls, clothing retailers like Cotton On and healthcare retailers such as Dis-Chem were fast becoming the new drawcards.
In a Knight Frank report last year, South Africa was estimated to have 23 million square metres of shopping centre space, but the closure of Stuttafords and some of Edcon's international-brand stores, and the battle over exclusivity leases by Massmart's Game stores with a food offering, signal deep-seated disruption.
Ndlovu said property owners should look at tenant repositioning where banks and post offices took the prime spot in a centre as they were a destination rather than a draw-card.
"Move them into basements or spaces that are less preferred by retailers."
In South Africa, he said, store closures or retail space rationalisation were being driven by a weak economy, whereas in the US they were driven by a surge in online shopping - which comprises only about 1% of total retail sales in South Africa compared to about 11% in the US.
"US malls are embracing more technology and food, beverage and entertainment offerings. In South Africa there's big room to improve on this," said Ndlovu.
Some industry analysts punt Cape Town's V&A Waterfront - owned by Growthpoint Properties - as the mall of the new world, where there is an equal retail and residential mix and a theme park-like ambience.
With South Africa's listed property sector now exposed to 25 countries, many property companies are looking to their international assets to find the next trend.
Andile Mazwai, CEO-designate at Rebosis Property Fund, which owns malls across the UK, said: "This experience has given us a window into the future of malls. The trend is for malls to offer entertainment, interesting food offerings and socialisation over and above everything else."
While the group was revamping its mature malls in East London and Pretoria, it was also consolidating its assets, said Mazwai. "We're looking at the malls that we've built and investing in building mall precincts, which for us is an important part of driving economic development in the areas in which we operate.
"We have positioned ourselves as a retail-led fund, and we plan to honour that. Should we decide to sell off any of our non-retail assets, we aim to ensure that two-thirds of our value comes from retail," he added.
Rebosis's Forest Hill City mall in Centurion and Baywest Mall in Port Elizabeth offer features such as ice rinks and Imax theatres. "At Forest Hill City mall we have a heated wave pool," said Mazwai.
As for what consumers are looking for when they go to a mall, Ndlovu said mall owners should embrace technology and social media.
"Introduce more pop-up stores, up to a certain level of course. This helps to promote small and local businesses or start-ups and improves the offering at the same time."
Ndlovu said other opportunities were the rooftops of malls, which were underutilised or redundant.
"These can be converted into rooftop bars, restaurants or play areas, with great views of the city and sunsets."
But for malls which were built years ago, "we believe that there is room for refurbishment. Most of the malls in South Africa are long overdue for this," Ndlovu said.


text: Berks-based Rodale Institute set for Pennsylvania to become the Silicon Valley of organic farming. This is thanks to spiking consumer demand and state-funded resources for farmers looking to grow organic, according to Jeff Tkach, chief information officer with the Rodale Institute. Interest in organic agriculture is booming among farmers statewide, Tkach said, due partly to the 2019 passage of the Pennsylvania Farm Bill. The bill, proposed by Gov. Tom Wolf, invests $24 million in support of the state’s agriculture industry, and includes an initiative to make Pennsylvania the nation’s leading organic state.


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With the economy on the decline and the unemployment rate sitting at 14.7 percent, it goes without saying that families and small businesses are struggling to make ends meet.
On Friday, White House adviser Ivanka Trump and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue teamed up to launch a $3 billion initiative to benefit small farms, ranches and those in need.
The “Farmers to Families Food Box” program, part of the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, will feed hungry families and prevent farmers and ranchers from wasting goods.
Thanks to American farmers and local, regional and national food suppliers, American families will have access to 100% American-grown fresh produce, meat and dairy products. https://t.co/lZ0x5Cww3o pic.twitter.com/7zicTBSCEy
— Sec. Sonny Perdue (@SecretarySonny) May 12, 2020
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is permitted under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act to purchase up to $3 billion worth of agricultural goods for distribution to food banks, church groups and nonprofits around the country.
This effort will ensure that food raised and grown specifically for the restaurant industry won’t go to waste and that small farmers and ranchers are still being supported.
“Small businesses are the backbone of America’s economy,” Ivanka told FOX Business.
“Whether it be through the massively successful PPP program, including small agricultural businesses in EIDL, or by awarding up to [$3 billion] to small, regional farmers, ranchers and distributors through the Farmers to Families Food Box program, this administration will continue to implement innovative and impactful policies to bolster American workers, families and small business owners.”
Trump and Perdue toured a Coastal Sunbelt Produce warehouse in Maryland, one of the participating distributors, on Friday as a part of the “Farmers to Families Food Box” launch.
The two witnessed first hand what was being done there to support struggling American businesses and families who may not otherwise know where they’d get their next meal.
Farmers feed America! ??
The $3 Billion Farmers to Families Food Box Program launched today will ensure that food that might have gone to waste will now go to those in need!
Fresh produce/meat ? will be packed into boxes ? & delivered to food banks + non profits nationwide ?? pic.twitter.com/m7Y792BNUg
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) May 15, 2020
According to The Associated Press, this initiative has been beneficial not only to farmers, ranchers and hungry families, but also to the distribution company, whom Trump said was able to bring back 50 furloughed employees to help prepare the food boxes.
The organization plans to deliver 35,000 boxes each week through the end of June, each filled with fresh food like meat and dairy products, potatoes, tomatoes and bell peppers.
Thank you to our Farmers to Families Food Box suppliers hard at work procuring food & moving it safely to communities in need.
— USDA Ag Mktg Service (@USDA_AMS) May 15, 2020
The first daughter told USA Today that the program “really creates a virtuous cycle” for “the most vulnerable in these challenging times”
“I’m not shy about asking people to step up to the plate. The whole country needs to be galvanized in the effort, both to combat this deadly virus, but also to rebuild … to rebuild our economy as we emerge,” she added.
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